LUCY'S BLOG

Posted by phil on March 4, 2015

Lucy's comments on March and April's activities

It has been an exciting few months in the world of Exeter Chiefs.

Firstly, I’d like to say a huge, huge thank you to the Supporters Club for awarding me the Jack Challenger cup for Character of the year at the dinner last week. It was completely unexpected and I’m still incredibly overwhelmed to have even been considered for it, especially given some of the names of past winners engraved on it. To be considered in the same class as those is just amazing

A lot of the players, coaches and staff at the club often say that Chiefs is such a good club to be part of. I have to say that, for me, it is exactly the same for us as fans. I’ve always been interested in writing, and to be able to write about a club that is so full of character and grace really is a privilege. I’ve had so much help and encouragement from the club and my fellow fans. To be noted for something that is an absolute pleasure for me to do really is wonderful. I’m very quickly running out of adjectives to describe how grateful I am. So I’ll just say thank you.

Anyway… Back to rugby.

We’ve had a busy time travelling all over the place as we enter the business end of the season. We started March still with a chance of the treble, looking decent in all 3 competitions.

First up: The LV Cup.

After getting to the final at Franklin’s Gardens following a rather inspired victory over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, we narrowly lost out to Saracens having fought literally to the death to retain our trophy. The game was, to use a cliche, a tale of two halves. The first belonged to Saracens. The second to us. Who knows what would have happened had we not have given away our last minute penalty. Or Goode kicked it over. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Something I really appreciated was the consistency of the team that got us there. For the coaches to stay with the youngsters and not change the team for more of a first team feel showed so much trust and belief in them. Most impressive I think is the emergence of Max Bodilly. Such a promising young talent for everyone to keep an eye on over the next few seasons. He and Sam Skinner will lead the way for the next few players rolling off the ever successful Exeter Chiefs academy production line. Credit has to go to Rob Cowling, Ricky Pellow and everyone who works with these young players, honing them and shaping them into our stars of the future. People talk about Chiefs and how we need to attract established England players to the squad. I agree, but I also think that we make our own stars. You only have to look at Nowell, Slade, Ewers and Hill to realise that.

Next up: Europe.

First up we face Premiership rivals Newcastle Falcons at Sandy Park in a quarter-final match up that is all set to be an absolute cracker. This time `Chiefs are victorious, coming out on top with a score of 48-13. Perhaps less of a game than we were expecting. But nevertheless a hard fought victory. No games are easy at this stage and anyone can win or lose on the day. We march onwards into a Westcountry derby with Gloucester.

A late evening kick off and a crowd full of noisy, passionate fans can only mean one thing: an amazing day of rugby. Chiefs put in a good performance but Gloucester were better than us on the day. They played with heart and passion from the start and grabbed their opportunity with both hands. Thats not to say that we didn’t, they were just better than us on the day. I wish them well in the final next week.

Lastly: The Premiership.

Exeter have excelled beyond belief this season. When you look at where we were this time last season to this, the performances are entirely different. Would we have believed in September that we’d have beaten the reigning champions twice? No. That we’d have beaten Saracens at home? No. That we’d have beaten Bath? well… Maybe.

The point is, while we are currently sat on buses on the way home from Wasps having lost (but clinching a crucial LBP) we are currently sat 5th in the Premiership and, minus any horrendous errors, in the Champions Cup next season. We’ve been in the LV final and in the process blooded several promising young players. We’ve been in our first ever European semi-final and we still have a top 4 place within our grasp. There are two games left and everything to play for. This season has been incredible. I can’t wait to see how it ends, but at the same time I’m desperate for it not to end.

Our next challenge holds Saracens away and Sale at home in what will be an explosive end to the season. We are more than capable of winning both matches and grabbing that spot in the semi finals. But if we don’t, all is not lost to us. We have a world cup at our ground just around the corner. Then the fun starts all over again. It’s always a good time to be a fan of Exeter Chiefs. But this season has been extra special

A report on Chiefs vs Bath Saturday 28th February

Saturday 28th February. We arrive at Sandy Park to face Bath Rugby, a rival quite like no other to us Exeter Chiefs fans. Two victories in the LV cup have stopped that winning streak for Bath, but never a victory in the Premiership.

After successive wins over Newcastle Falcons and Harlequins, Exeter are on a fine roll and ready to step up to the challenge. Of course, Bath are without some of their star players who are off playing for England in the six nations at present. However, this makes them no easy challenge, and as the team in blue, black and white arrive in Devon for what is billed as the West Country derby (even though I maintain that Bath is not in the West Country) all players must step up if we are to finally get the monkey off our backs and claim a long awaited, much sought after victory.

Sandy Park is packed to the rafters for this one, even though we are on TV. I love that so many Bath fans have made the trip south to watch the game. It is true that tickets for our games both home and away are like gold dust. The atmosphere is very special today. As the team take to the pitch the chop makes the spine tingle, no matter what the result, today will be a very special day.

The first half was pretty even I’d say, very end to end with a few mistakes from both sides. The magic really happened in the second half, when Exeter came out with the momentum, battling hard. Bath battled back equally as hard until scrum half Will Chudley went over for his try and clinching victory for Exeter Chiefs. The cheer on the final whistle was like no other.

I’m sure the talk of the press will be that Exeter were lucky and that Bath were at a disadvantage. But who cares. We can now add them to the growing list of teams we have been victorious against this season. We sit 3rd (or joint second on points, if you’re the optimist) in the premiership table. We have a home quarter final in the Challenge Cup, and this week we travel to Leicester to face the Tigers in our defence of the LV Cup.

It is always a good time to be an Exeter Chiefs fan. But this season has been really rather special.